Some Heat, Please!

Squirrels are probably well equipped to handle the cold of a snowy winter. Luckily for humans, we’ve learned to take advantage of chemistry to heat the way.

News You Can Use

Nearly every chemical process is accompanied by the flow of heat, which itself generally leads to a change in temperature. Some transformations are endothermic and cause the surroundings to decrease in temperature. That is clearly a reaction you would want to avoid if you were cold during the winter.

Alternatively, there are processes that are exothermic and thus increase the temperature of the surroundings. A useful example of this is the crystallization of sodium acetate from a supersaturated solution, which has been exploited commercially to produce hand warmers.